The endosymbiont Wolbachia has been detected in a range of filarial nematodes and parasitic mites and is known to affect host reproductive compatibility and potentially evolutionary processes. PCR of Wolbachia surface protein (wsp), ftsZ and 16SrRNA genes from individual Sarcoptes scabiei mites obtained from a series of individual hosts, and database searches of an S. scabiei var. hominis EST library failed to detect Wolbachia genes. Therefore, Wolbachia appears not to be involved in the genetic subdivision observed between varieties of host-associated S. scabiei or. involved in the inflammatory disease pathogenesis of scabies unlike its activity in filarial infection. (C) 2004 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.